Jets keeping 26 players on roster for now

BANFF, Alta. — They’re going to keep their group at 26 players for a day or two longer, Winnipeg Jets coach Claude Noel said Saturday afternoon.

The NHL team, having completed its eight-game pre-season schedule at 1-4-3, has decided to make this mountain resort town its home until late Monday, when it will move north to Edmonton in time for Tuesday’s season opener.

The league requires each team to set a roster of a maximum of 23 players and be compliant under the $64.3-million salary cap by Monday afternoon.

"It (the reduction) won’t be today or probably tomorrow either," Noel said. "We’ll keep the group. I’ve got to meet with Chevy (GM Kevin Cheveldayoff) and talk about some different things and we have some different things we have to deal with."

The Jets have a variety of activities planned while they are here, including practices on Sunday and Monday. Today, the players were seen outdoors for some team-building time and this afternoon, they were off to try to some golf at the internationally acclaimed Stanley Thompson-designed Banff Springs Hotel Golf Course, despite it being a grey, chilly day of about nine degrees.

Noel also said today that defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who crashed into the boards legs-first late in Friday’s 5-0 loss to Boston in Saskatoon, was fine.

Byfuglien was seen walking under his own power after that game.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

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